Ownership of Staff Works

The Utah State University policy on Intellectual Property and Creative Works is incorporated into the USU Policy Manual (Policy 327), covering all university employees. Works covered by this policy include: "discoveries, writings, instructional materials, art works, know-how, tangible research properties, and inventions." Section 1 of this policy discusses the ownership and retention of rights in such works as well as disclosure, licensing, and royalty procedures.

This policy relies on the definition of "work made for hire" in Section 101 of the US Copyright Code: "a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment." Section 201 of the Code stipulates that: "In the case of a work made for hire, the employer or other person for whom the work was prepared is considered the author for the purposes of this title, and, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise in a written instrument signed by them, owns all of the rights comprised in the copyright."